Classic Papers

SfN provides access to a sample of high impact classic papers addressing a range of neuroscience topics. To suggest a classic paper, e-mail jn@sfn.org.

Topics are:

• Action potentials
• Arousal
• Attention
• Electroencephalography
• Emotion
• Frontal lobe function
• Hormones
• Language
• Learning and memory
• Sprouting
• Stress
• Synaptic function
• Viewpoints and reviews

• Hodgkin, A.L. and Huxley, A.F., and Katz, B (1952) Measurement of current-voltage relations in the membrane of the giant axon of Loligo. (3.2MB) Journal of Physiology, 116: 424-448.
• Hodgkin, A.L. and Huxley, A.F. (1952) Currents carried by sodium and potassium ions through the membrane of the giant axon of Loligo. (3.4MB) Journal of Physiology, 116: 449-472.
• Hodgkin, A.L. and Huxley, A.F. (1952) The components of membrane conductance in the giant axon of Loligo. (6.9MB) Journal of Physiology, 116: 473-496.
  Journal of Physiology, 116: 473-496.
• Hodgkin, A.L. and Huxley, A.F. (1952) The dual effect of membrane potential on sodium conductance in the giant axon of Loligo. (2.6MB) Journal of Physiology, 116: 497-506.
• Hodgkin, A.L. and Huxley, A.F. (1952) A quantitative description of membrane current and its application to conduction and excitation in nerve. (12.8MB) Journal of Physiology, 117(4): 500-544.

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Arousal 

• Moruzzi, G. and Magoun, H.W. (1949) Brain stem reticular formation and activation of the EEG. (6.5MB) EEG and Clin Neurophys. 1, 455-473. (pending permission to publish)
• Yerkes, R.M. and Dodson, J.D. (1908) The relation of strength of stimulus to rapidity of habit formation. (7.8MB) The Journal of Comparative Neurology and Psychology, 18: 459-482. (pending permission to publish)

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Attention

• Broadbent, DE (1957) A mechanical model for human attention and immediate memory. (4.4MB) The Psychological Review, 64: 205-215.
• Treisman, AM & Geffen (1967) Selective attention: perception or response. Quart J. Exp. Psychol 19: 1-17. (pending permission to publish)

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Electroencephalography

• Berger, H. (1929) On the electroencephalogram of man. (English translation). In EEG and Clin Neurophys, 1969, Supplement 28, p. 37-73. (pending permission to publish)

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Emotion

• Bard, P. (1929) A diencephalic mechanism for the expression of rage with special reference to the sympathetic nervous system. (12.1MB) Amer J. Physiol. 84: 490-515.
• Kluever, H. and Bucy, P.C. (1938). An analysis of certain effects of bilateral temporal lobectomy in the rhesus monkey, with special reference to "psychic blindness." (5.2MB) Journal of Psychology. 5: 33-54. (pending permission to publish)
• Papez, J. W. (1937) A Proposed Mechanism of Emotion. (6.1MB) Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry. 38: 725-734.
• Schacter, S. and Singer, J. (1962). Cognitive, social, and physiological determinants of emotional state. (10.3MB) Physiol. Rev. 69: 379-399. (pending permission to publish)

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Frontal Lobe Function

• Harlow , J.M. (1868). Recovery from the Passage of an Iron Bar through the Head. (4.7MB) Pub. Mass. Med. Soc , 2: 327-347. (pending permission to publish)
• Jacobsen, C.F. (1935) Functions of frontal association areas in primates. (7.5MB) Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry 33, 358-369.

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Hormones

• McEwen B, Weiss J, Schwartz L (1968) Selective retention of corticosterone by limbic structures in rat brain. (1.2MB) Nature 220: 911.

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Language

• Wernicke, C. (1874) (English translation) The Aphasia Symptom complex: A Psychological Study on an Anatomical Basis. (20.2MB) Breslau: Cohn and Weigert. (pending permission to publish)
• Broca, P. (1865) On the site of the faculty of articulated speech. (English translation) in Arch Neurol, 1986, 43: 1065-1072.

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Learning and Memory

• Scoville, W.B. and Milner, B. (1957). Loss of Recent Memory After Bilateral Hippocampal Lesions. (5.6MB) J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. 20: 11- 21.
• McGaugh, J.L. (1966). Time Dependent Processes in Memory Storage. (858K) Science 153: 1351-1358. (pending permission to publish)
• Tolman, E.C. (1949) There is more than one kind of learning. (5.5MB) The Psychological Review. 56: 144- 155.
• Korsakoff, S.S. (1889) Psychic Disorder in Conjunction with Multiple Neuritis. (5.6MB) (English translation with commentary). Neurology , 1955, 5: 394-406.
• Yerkes, R.M. and Morgulis, S. (1909) The Method of Pawlow in Animal Psychology. (7.8MB) The Psychological Bulletin, 6: 257-273.

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Sprouting

• Van Harreveld, A (1945) Re-Innervation of denervated muscle fibers by adjacent functioning motor units. Amer J Physiol, 144: 477-493. (pending permission to publish)
• Hoffman, H (1950) Local reinnervation in partially dennervated muscle; a histopathological study. Aust. J. Exp. Biol. Med. Sci., 28: 383-397. (pending permission to publish)

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Stress

• Selye H (1936) A syndrome produced by diverse nocuous agents. (641K) Nature 138: 32.

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Synaptic Function

• Dale, H.H., Feldberg, W. and Vogt, M. (1936) Release of Acetylcholine at voluntary motor nerve endings. (9.4MB) J. Physiol. 86: 353-380.
• Fatt, P. and Katz, B. (1951) An analysis of the end-plate potential recorded with an intra-cellular electrode. (14.4MB) J. Physiol. 115: 320-370.
• Fatt, P. and Katz, B. (1952) Spontaneous subthreshold activity at motor nerve endings. (6.0MB) J. Physiol. 117: 109-128.
• Katz, B. and Miledi, R. (1967) The release of acetylcholine from nerve endings by graded electrical pulses. (9.2MB) Proc. Roy. Soc., 167: 23-38.
• Katz, B. and Miledi, R (1967) The timing of calcium action during neuromuscular transmission. (4.3MB) J. Physiol. 189: 535-544.
• Katz, B. and Miledi, R (1970) Membrane noise produced by acetylcholine. (1.0MB) Nature, 226: 962-963.
• Katz, B. and Miledi, R (1972) The statistical nature of the acetylcholine potential and its molecular components. (14.5MB) J. Physiol., 224: 665-699.
• Miledi, R. (1973) Transmitter release induced by injection of calcium ions into nerve terminals. (2.3MB) Proc. R. Soc. Lond., 183: 421-425.

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Viewpoints and Reviews

• Breland, K. and Breland, M. (1961) The Misbehavior of Organisms. (3.8MB) American Psychologist, 16: 681-684.
• Beach, F.A. (1950) The Snark was a Boojum. (9.2MB) American Psychologist, 5: 115-124.
• Ritchie, B.F. (1953) The Circumnavigation of Cognition. (3.3MB) Psychological Review, 60: 216-221.

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